Is there a world where friends really matter?
by poisonliz
Summary: Angel LeBlanc could be described as anything but normal, upon mysteriously entering a strange new world and on the other side of the grand line, may I add. Will she survive in this weird world? and who is this stranger she sees in her visions? R
1. Enter Angel LeBlanc

I suppose describing myself as completely normal beyond all doubt is a lie that I have come accustomed to. The lie I use to protect myself. If I were to be discovered who knows what horrors the government would do to me, or want me to do. I'm Angel by the way, Angel LeBlanc. Telling you that I'm your average teen would be an insult to your intelligence; you probably knew the second you saw me I wasn't normal, was it the purple eyes? The far away look? Or perhaps the unnaturally long hair? No? I didn't think so either, one can explain those things, it's that feeling you get isn't it; that one you can't quite explain but you know it means something. So I guess I'll tell you the truth then. I'm Angel LeBlanc and I'm psychic. You don't believe me do you? You think I'm crazy too, I knew I shouldn't have told you, too late now though. You want me to prove it to you ok I will. I will tell you now you have no idea where this story is heading. Ah, so now you believe me. Well let me tell you my real story, for you and I both no this one is not what you came to read. It all started a few months ago…

"Angel time for school" I heard my mom shout for the fifth time, I'm not really a morning person, so this is our normal morning ritual. I'm a proud student of New Haven's high school, I'm graduating this year and going to college next year (I hope.) Things have been a little rocky at school lately my best friend Lola and I are drifting apart, she's grown tired of me and my visions, a thing of the past I suppose, to begin with she thought it was really cool but lately my visions have been strange, I don't know what's going on in them. Any way Lola decided to hang out with Marissa my worst enemy, she's hated me since first grade (before Lola and I were friends), I think she chose Marissa because she knows I daren't go near her for fear I'll strangle her.

"Angel! Some time today would be nice!" O, I almost forgot, I grab my clothes and half-heartedly put them on, I usually try to look nice but it's hard when you enjoy hibernating so much. I put on the nicest things on my floor, a beautiful corset top tied together with black ribbons, with roses up the boning and a pair of pinstriped trousers, I tie my hair into a ribbon, a make shift headband I suppose and head down to a breakfast of pop tarts and Lilt.

"That's disgusting," comments my little sister Sarah, she's a little bugger when she wants to be, especially on a morning, "I can't believe you eat that junk." This is her normal 'give me attention in the morning' rant, she's at that age when she needs to be acknowledged as a human being (don't you just miss the days when they couldn't talk?)

When I finally get to school after shoving my pop tarts down my throat to the disgust of Sarah, who said something about table manners. I got to school just as the bell rang, History, my first lesson, it's so stupid you learn about the same thing again and again, the teachers always pretend that it's something new but we all know what happens because it already happened. Lola usually sits next to me, when I enter the room however she conveniently placed herself in between dumb and dumber (The Robinson twins, I don't even know why they didn't drop out of school when they could.) So yet again today I'm alone, maybe I should just take the hint after all she's pointing it out very well. Then again we've been friends for years, maybe she just needs to talk about an issue with someone, I've never been a good person at expressing my own feelings and maybe that's why she hasn't come to me, yes, I'll confront her after this lesson. Mrs Dunn my teacher is still droning on about some strange shoe that she found yesterday or something, how strange.

"Lola!" I shout to her, she turns to me looking stunned for a second as if I had shouted a fact about her no one else knows. She stops and slowly her face turns into one I have never seen before, a malicious, grinning face, what's going on? No matter I'll tell her now.

"What do you want, LeBlanc?" She drawls out my second name as if it's venomous.

"I just want to tell you if there's something you need to talk about then I'm here, you know." I pause about to carry on, I look at her, piercing her with my unnatural eyes, she looks shocked, taken aback by my words, the Lola I used to know shines through, just for a second and then she drowns in this new Lola.

"O, there is something LeBlanc that I always wanted to say." I close my mouth, which was half open ready to start along speech that I had previously prepared in my head. I nod and wait for her to speak again. Her voice goes low, almost a whisper "Leave me alone, I never liked you ever, I don't know why you're following me but stop it." Then she says it, the word I fear the most, "You're a freak and I don't want your kind around me." Her voice rises into a shriek so that the whole corridor can hear her, "I wish you had never been born." I stop this time, taken aback; my best friend never liked me, never cared, followed me for the ride and when things got tough ditched me. I hear a snort and see Marissa from the corner of my eye, the whole corridor erupts with laughter, everyone's laughing at my expense. I turn and run. I had a lesson and I know I should go but I can't, I wish I could just disappear, be somewhere where friends actually matter. Who am I kidding? Nowhere like that exists, I look down at my feet, my feet that are no longer there! I'm running but my legs have disappeared. What's going on!?

"HELP!" I scream just before everything goes black.

I hear a beautiful sound, the ocean, I've always liked that sound, the sound of a soft lullaby, the wind whistling along, ruffling my hair in an affectionate way. Wait a second I live at least two hours away from the sea and almost never go there. I feel something sharp in my side.

"Think she's ok?" I hear a voice next to me. He has an accent that's rather thick and hard to understand, perhaps your stereotypical farmers voice. I open one eye slightly. A concerned and extremely blurry old man stands over me with a long, thin stick. O, great idea stupid git, poking a hurt girl with a stick.

"Temperatures fine," The man next to him states, he's considerably younger with dark hair to match his dark Native American skin. "You think she was capsized?" the man asks the older man.

"Doubtful." Another man answers. "Although she doesn't look like she's from around here." I can't see this man but his voice sounds slightly further away and the smell of cigarette smoke drifts from the direction of his voice, so I'm guessing he doesn't want to suffocate me with the smoke.

"You think she's even from the grand line?" The grand line? What line is that? I suppose it could be referring to the equator, though I was never good with geography so I don't know which side of the planet that is.

"Must be. How else would she be this far?" The unseen man replies. The other two remain still for a second contemplating this, then both seemingly happy with this answer nod.

"Think she's a…" The old man starts. The younger man finishes his trail of thought looking from the old man to presumably where the unseen man is "…A pirate?" A pirate? Honestly, everyone knows pirates don't exist any more, there are no need for them now, or perhaps it's the government that frightened them.

"I wouldn't know." The unseen man answers thoughtfully in a whispering voice. I can't believe I almost respected this man, almost thought he was intelligent.

I decide its time to sit up, I slowly lift my body keeping my eyes shut to relieve the dizziness that has come over me. There are two shocked in takes of breath and one cool breathing out of smoke. I decide it is time for me to make an input here.

"Where am I?" I ask slowly opening my eyes, the previously unseen man turns out to be another dark haired, dark skinned man wearing a suit and smoking a cigarette. It is at this moment, as the old man next to me is about to speak that I feel it, a strong jab in the back of my neck and a stinging in my eyes. I feel a strange surge of power that only happens when…

_The strange boat rocks slightly on the waves, illuminated by green candles, the man aboard it looks strong, he wears a strange cross on his back, he turns to look at me, his eyes are piercing me and he says something I can't quiet here so I lip read_

_"it all… here…" I don't understand._

"Hey you okay?" the old man asks. I look at him slightly puzzled, who was that man I just saw, what was he doing and who was he talking to? The old man keeps looking at me.

"I'm just tired." I reply quickly, a lie I have also become accustomed to.

"Right, come along, we'll get you a room at the inn." He gives the man across from him a meaningful look, one that I don't understand and then picks me up. I would protest however my visions usually wipe out all my strength and I'd rather not walk feeling like this. Then a familiar feeling of panic falls over me, one that had been forgotten seconds ago, where the hell am I?


	2. Pirates don't exist

Inside the inn one of the staff shows the old man to a room where he places me on the bed and makes his way to the door. I know what you're thinking ask where you are, am I right? I thought so. You must realise that although I would have loved to ask him however I can't, wouldn't you find it strange having just told someone where they are having to tell them again? And these people believe in pirates and magical equators, they're obviously mad.

The room I'm in is nice though, well I say nice, what I really mean is very alpha-male. They have the signature antler and dears head to point out to all visitors that they won in an unfair fight. The walls are coffee brown to match the antlers and the old, battered closet on the left hand-side of the room. The carpet is a bloody red colour with little white patterns that look like teeth. The place itself seems very nice, a quiet little village, with a quiet little inn I suppose.

I feel something strange come over me suddenly nausea and exhaustion at the same time, I collapse onto the bed, let out a huge sigh and allow the night shadows at the corners of my vision take over.

Lola stands before me looking menacing, her eyes mirror my strange ones, a deep, dark purple with specs of sky blue. She moves towards me her strange eyes never leaving my face.

"You're a freak! I wish you were never born!" Her words cut deep again, I don't hear the cackle from Marissa this time, I feel it, cutting me inside, making me feel so small. I try to look forwards at her but I can't see her any more instead all I can see is the shimmer of green candle light on ocean waves. The man on the strange boat picks up the cross on his back, a sound like the unsheathing of a sword can be heard, I realise it isn't a holy item it's a weapon, sacrilege. He points the sword at me, ready to plunge it into my flesh, I don't try to stop him, it would be better not to right? Suddenly he opens his mouth and a strange voice comes out.

"Wake up!" That old mans voice, how strange. "You need some food." How does this man know that I'm hungry, and why unsheathe his sword for such a trivial matter? He suddenly grabs my shoulder and shakes me lightly.

"Urrrgggghhhh." I acknowledge the man in the only friendly way I can after being asleep. "What tiiime is it?" I say yawning loudly.

"Nine in the morning lassy, time to get up." I sit up quickly, regretting it afterwards as my sight swims slightly.

"Listen kid, we need to give you some food then get you to the mayor." The mayor, yes, a mayor likes repeating the place name of where he has been elected to rule, as it were. This is perfect I can know the name without even having to ask. Wait though, is it natural for a person who was just found to have to see the mayor? If you ask me, which this old man probably should be doing instead of presuming I want to see his mayor, seeing a mayor for no reason isn't a reason for seeing a mayor at all; meaning the mayor has a problem with me being here.

"Are you gonna sit there all day?" The old man asked looking somewhat flustered now, I suppose I could humour him and his mayor, it would be rude of me to remain in this town without explaining something to the mayor, the problem is what do I tell him?

The mayors' house is right in the centre of the town, not far from the inn. The building itself is obviously expensive, painfully more expensive than most of the houses in town put together. The doors are at least eight feet tall and made out of old oak, something hard to come by now. On entering the house it looks strange, like an expensive hotel reception. The mayors' door was the fifth the left, behind a heavy, light coloured, wooden door. Inside the room a fat balding man sat scribbling with an old fashioned pen on some parchment. Now I'm not your usual prejudice girl but the first words that popped into my head were "smug bastard!" The fat little man looked up with a fake, pompous smile on his face as if this was a surprise and that he hadn't requested my presence nor had his receptionist just stated that I was here, what a vane git!

"Ah. Lovely, lovely and you are?" He looked at me over his round glasses in a way that I'm sure he thought made him look intelligent, now maybe I'm being harsh but I swear to you now it made him look like a pig dressed as a librarian or perhaps a count. Also correct me if I'm wrong but is it not much more polite to introduce yourself first? Any way he let me stay in that inn for free (or the old man did) so it's best not to take his kindness and be rude back. I put on my sweetest voice and reply:

"I'm Angel LeBlanc a pleasure to meet you." He takes a second to process my name, as if filing it away, then picks up a pile of what looks like wanted posters (though they were probably made on the internet.) and flicked through them quickly, what a rude little man. He got to the last piece of paper, took one last look at me before flicking through them again, seeming some what pleased about something, he lifted his hand and did a swatting motion, the old man next to me grabbed my arm and we both left. I was simply appalled, even if he is mayor what makes him think he can act like that to me?

"So you're not a pirate then?" The old man finally asked as we left the mayors' house. I couldn't stop myself, I snorted loudly, and he looked at me still waiting for my answer.

"Pirates don't exist." I replied simply. The man suddenly stopped, I stopped too, what was wrong with him?

"Where are you from?" He asked suddenly, what a strange question, surely my accent points it out clearly.

"America," I replied, he looked confused "The USA." I answered again. He looked even more confused.

"Is that further up the grand line?" He asked conversationally turning and walking with me again. This time I stopped.

"What's the grand line?" I asked, it was his turn to answer my questions; he gawked at me, as if asking me if I was for real.

"Well the grand line is…" He stopped, possibly collecting his thoughts and then started again, he made several attempts at explaining this "Grand line." All failed terribly and simply made me more confused. Now I may have stated before that I'm not very good at geography but I can tell you right now I know where America is, I also know that there are only a select few (if any countries) that don't know of its existence.

"So tell me," Came a voice from my right, I turned to see the intelligent man from yesterday, "Who are you and how did you get beyond the grand line." I was suddenly frightened, the man's voice had become threatening. Don't get me wrong I'm by no means weak, but I'm a psychic in a world I don't know or understand, I don't know how to get home and worse I have no one I can trust.


	3. uh oh we're in trouble!

-Recap-

"Who are you and how did you get beyond the grand line?"

I stared at the man before me, I felt strangely frightened and alone, was he trying to accuse me of something? His voice didn't even suggest that he cared for the answers he knew he was going to get. I took an involuntary step back, caught off guard by his words, his hidden meaning. The old mans eyes had turned to me also when I had been discussing the hidden meaning with myself, he stood next to me as he had been before the younger man had shown up. He appeared to be patiently waiting but I could feel it, that prickling when someone is staring through you, their eyes boring into your inner most core. I open my mouth to reply but close it quickly; something in my mind tells me that this man is looking for something, anything suspicious.

"I'm Angel, Angel LeBlanc." I hold out a shaky hand, trying to appear unfazed by his guarded stare. His eyes move down to my hand, as though its presence before him is offensive. I drop it to my side after a few seconds, my shoulders visibly drop and for the first time in my life I feel guilty of a crime, a crime I know I haven't committed.

"How did you get past the grand line?" It occurs to me now that this grand line must be really hard to get past otherwise this would be a stupid question, I decide it's best to try my luck here.

"I must have been born beyond the grand line because I've never heard of it." I want to cheer at this point, what an amazing come back, I have told a new, effective lie. However as I lift my head I realise that he has not bought into my spontaneous lie.

"Everyone knows about the grand line." He answers shortly. Damn, there's something I didn't think of, so the grand lines like America, know one lacks its name.

"Listen I really don't know what it is, so just leave me alone." I put on an insecure face in order to convey my point, no one ever wants to upset a woman especially an insecure one, surely now he'll just leave me alone and we can go our separate-

"Tell me how you got here!" He whispers urgently, grabbing my arms in a vice like grip, his eyes are level with mine, staring at me, seeing past the lies. Oh no, I feel it again, this time stronger, the ache in my neck becomes a throbbing and my eyes feel as though they're blistering, dry and hot. I've got to stay conscious. I've got to stay conscious. I've got to…

I_ see something, a tree. How strange, I never have visions about normal things. Wait, I hear a creaking sound coming from the tree. Suddenly I hear a woosh and I look up at the tree from where I'm standing, the man before me previously stands next to me his hand gripped around my wrist. I then move my head from side to side, we're almost at the inn now, I can see it about two houses down. I suddenly see something, a long thick shadow becoming bigger and bigger and bigger. O hell it's the tree and it's going to squash the three of us._

I come back to my senses again. The man looks at me curiously, his grip has loosened now and he is back in the same position, holding my shoulders, his head has moved away from mine. He doesn't speak a word merely waits for my answer… My answer… what was the question. O wait yes I know, time to tell the truth I suppose.

"I really don't know." He looks at me, anticlimactic for him I suppose; I do feel sorry for him. Whatever this grand line is he obviously wants to know about it.

"We should keep going, you look ill." He turns to me when he says the second bit. I know exactly what I look like, my face has gone a pale white colour to match my bright blond hair, my eyes have probably also lightened and the bags under my eyes are probably much more visible now.

We begin walking again past the old fashioned houses, some of them are more modern but on the whole they look more Victorian than anything. Then I see it, five paces away the tree I saw in my vision. I stop, the old man walking behind me walks into the back of me, giving a disgruntled grunt. I need to stall them, for long enough that we don't get squashed.

"I wanted to ask… erm… your names." I ask with all the joy I can muster, I've got to sound like I actually care.

"Roy McCarty." The old man answers, what a strange name, just for emphasis I pull out my hand, the one that is not being strangled by the younger man. I hold it out and the older man takes it, shaking it very strongly, though I shouldn't be surprised after all this man carried me to the inn. The younger man looks at me curiously again his dark eyes attempting to analyse me.

"Angus." He replies. I almost want to laugh. I was expecting something posh; something a rich family might name their child like Winston Marcus Anderson the third. He looks at me, daring me to laugh, I have always been taught to be respectful of others so I hold my tongue. I hold out my hand, again he refuses to shake it. Damn, the tree before us still hasn't fallen, what do I do now…

"So were you born here?" I ask

"Yes"

"No"

I look from Roy to Angus. Roy was born here and has never left, how curious and Angus, where's he from.

"So where are you from Angus?" I ask politely. He looks at me then turns away muttering something that sounds vaguely like "None of your business." He begins to walk forwards, what do I do?! I try to stand my ground but as suspected he is too strong for me, now what do I do? I look suspicious enough without suddenly throwing him to the ground.

"NO!" I say to the surprise of both the men and me. "You can't go there now." I think this is my first attempt at being cryptic… It's not going well.

"Why?" Angus answers shortly, looking annoyed about the whole scenario. I just open my mouth when I hear it, the crack of the tree and then the woosh. I close my eyes and the next thing I hear is a loud 'BANG'. I open my eyes again to see both men staring at me. I begin to panic, what should I do, I just blew my secret big time… wait, rational minds come back to play, it could have just been a coincidence, after all strange things happen all the time, right?

"Wow," I say pretending it was unexpected "I was just worried bout that, erm… snake." I say, yes snakes are things often missed by human eyes, could have been one around here at any point. I look at the two men; they share the meaningful look Roy shared with the young man yesterday. I get a little flustered for a moment; after all I really don't know these people and I don't know what this look means. Back comes rational thinking to tell me it's just one slip up, how much trouble could that possibly cause?


	4. appearance isn't always reality

-Recap-

It's just one slip up, how bad can it get?

If I'm honest I was expecting the government to knock on my bedroom door any day now but nothing happened. My visions suddenly became more frequent, most of them starring the strange swords man on the green candle lit boat. Soon however Roy and Angus started coming into my visions more and more often, keeping them out of trouble was difficult to say the least and worst of all, I swear that Angus could see right through it all. I tended to hang around with Roy, the old man, pretending I was fascinated with stories of his childhood, truth be told he was thick enough to fall for most of my lies and for this I was glad.

"So kidda," this was my new nickname given to me lovingly by Roy, I suppose you could say we were close, I've always liked older people, I feel I can relate to them much better, after all I have a heavy burden to bear and it has aged me considerably. "What did you do in your old town?" Wow what a strange question, though I suppose telling him is harmless, I don't really know about their educational system but if in doubt I'll make something up.

"Well I'm still in school." I answer. He looked at me, scratched his head for a second and then looked at me again as if what I had said was in another language.

"School?" He asked quizzically.

"Yes" I replied, I was becoming worried about his reaction now, it was as if he had never heard of-

"What's a 'school'?" I looked at him, surely they have schools here, after all how would the children learn how to read and write without it.

"You know where you go to learn how to read and write?" He looked at me again with the same expression, and then suddenly his face lightened up, as if enlightened by some divine force.

"You call your parents 'school'?" He asked somewhat amused now. Just go with it my inner voice was saying, play along.

"Oh yes," I said in what I thought to be my most convincing voice "it's an inside joke." I laughed nervously and I prayed he didn't hear the edge to it, thankfully he didn't appear to and so we carried on looking at the sky in silence. A moment passed over me and I thought of my poor single mother probably worrying about me. I never told her I was psychic; it was something I didn't want to worry her with. Mom has two jobs and she has to look after Sarah and me, I wouldn't want to worry her with such trivial things. I never realised I was different, or perhaps I didn't want to know, it was only when me and Lola became friends, only when I told her what happened to me that she told me it wasn't normal. For the first time in my life I realised what I was a freak, an outcast from society. Suddenly these silly once in a while visions became threatening nightmares singling me out from my friends and family.

"How did you know that sign was gonna fall off the inn?" Roy asked, I had already come up with a come back for this.

"I heard it squeaking that morning and thought it sounded dangerous." He turned his head to look at me then turned away. He has one of those faces that you could tell was handsome in its day, a square, strong jaw with crinkles near his lips where dimples formed when he smiles. When he turned to me however his face was not smiling but deadly serious, thoughtful as if recalling memories.

"The sign has always squeaked." He answered shortly. Damn, I didn't think about that, what he says however is truth. "What about the tree?" This time I turn to him, analysing his motive, there is something there I have seen before, something I have seen in my own reflection. Hurt. A hurt expression mares his kind face and for once I feel like a terrible liar, but I have a reason, he must understand, I'm a good person I just can't afford to tell anyone.

"I heard it crack." I move my head slowly back up so that I can see the clouds clearly.

"You stopped at least three minutes before the cracking sound." His voice sounds annoyed and slightly angry. What does he want from me? This man whom I portrayed as dumb enough to fall for my lies appears to be not so dumb at all, in fact he seems extremely reflective.

"That's because I didn't know your names." I answered quickly and much more defensively than I would have liked.

"You could have asked us back at the inn." I stop suddenly, he's right, I could have asked at any point but I chose then to talk.

"It was a coincidence." I say suddenly and I know I've fallen for his trap, I look and sound guilty and the word coincidence screams guilty. Much to my surprise however he nods and smiles.

"Okay" He picks up a rake and starts raking the leaves again. I watch him for a moment or two, relief washing through me like cleansing water.

"I better go." I say jumping off the wall we've been sat on. "See you soon." He waves to me as I practically run back to The Anchor inn, to my alpha-male room where I won't be questioned.

--

"And what did she say?" Asked a voice from behind the tree. The man with the rake looks up with an unsatisfied expression.

"Said it was a coincidence, said the tree cracked and the sign squeaked." He answered.

"And the other 'incidents'?" The man walked out from behind the tree wearing a suit and smoking a cigarette.

"Didn't ask her sir. She left before I could." He looked down at his feet.

"Does she trust you?" The suited man asked

"Yes."

"And what is your gut feeling?" The man took a drag from his cigarette and let it out slowly, watching the smoke rise through the tree leaves.

"I think she's lying."

"Good work, well we shall see."

--

After returning to the inn I went straight to bed, another close call, the god of luck must be on my side and with this thought I drift away.

I hear a loud banging and I open one eye to blink stupidly at the clock. Three O'clock, who calls at that time? I get up groggily and go to the door.

"Who is it?" I ask my voice thick with sleep.

"The marines and you Angel LeBlanc are under arrest on suspicion of being a pirate."


	5. A tool!

Recap

"This is the marines and you, Angel LeBlanc are under arrest on suspicion of being a pirate"

I stood at the door, staring at it as though looking through the wood at the prankster behind it, giving him the evil eye.

"Listen I don't know who you are but it's three in the morning and I am not amused." I say in a voice that mimics Moms. I turn towards my bed ready to climb back in.

"We will use force on this door if we have to Ms LeBlanc." Ms LeBlanc. MS LEBLANC!! I am not a Ms, it's Angel or nothing! I decide instead of acting like a child and back talking this obvious idiot I will merely ignore him. I pull back the covers; suddenly I hear a sound like a foot kicking the door, holy hell this guys serious. My mom once told me if I was ever confronted by someone who was strong and drunk (however drunk and crazy will have to be the same thing here.) to avoid them at all costs. I look around the room for another door, anything, my eyes glide over the window then back again, I'm on the first floor, only one story to jump and anyway I've always been agile. I stick my coat on quickly and run to the window and open it, climbing out onto the thin ledge. I'm at least ten feet from the soft grassy ground of the gardens. I sit myself on the rope thin ledge getting ready for inspiration to come to me. Inspiration however decided to come late, before I could think of any way to get down fifteen grown men piled through my now splintered door. It was at this point that spontaneity decided it was time rational thinking took a break and I threw myself from the window ledge. The grass as always wasn't particularly soft although I must admit I would prefer it any day to cold hard cobbles.

"Stop in the name of the law!" Shouted the elected speaker for the fifteen crazy men that now stood in my room. I got up quickly, feeling the soreness in my arms and legs from where I landed and sprinted in the direction I was facing. The path appeared to be familiar to me but the cobbles felt strange and new beneath my bare feet, I had not walked this path before. I kept running. The pounding in my ears muted only by the sound of hammering feet behind me and loud voices calling "stop!"

I suddenly heard it, as if it had never been there before but surely it had been. Surely according to the laws of the universe this sound had been sailing through my ears for a while now. That soothing melody and the whistling wind. Previously this would have been a welcoming sight and sound, dark waves crashing upon black dunes, now however it was a dead-end. My bare feet ran through the surf, getting stuck in the sand occasionally and being stabbed by stones all the time.

Now I'm not a religious girl, I don't believe in God or should I say I didn't but at that moment the divine hand must have placed him there for me. A green glow of candlelight caught my eye so close I wanted to touch it, yet so far I knew he wouldn't reach me in time. Still rationality in desperate situations has never been my strong point.

"Help!" I screamed at the top of my voice to the boat. Maybe time slowed down, maybe for a moment everything stopped but I swear I felt like it was taking forever for the captain of the little boat to react to me. I could almost feel the heartbeats and the breathing of the men behind me. Coming closer to me now. Suddenly, as if by magic a familiar figure appeared from behind the crazed men.

"If you tell us the truth, kidda, we won't have to hurt you." He sounded almost pleading and yet at the same time slightly malicious. An image of Lola's' twisted and distorted face appeared before my minds eye.

"I don't know what you're talking about" I replied stubbornly. Roy looked at me, mock sadness in his eyes, he walked towards me and leaned forwards, merely inches from my warm face.

"We just want your help Angel." He said in a patronising way, as if he were talking to a child. "Do you know what a useful tool your gift is? How useful you could be?" The last two questions were serious, compassionate questions and they hurt me so badly inside. I had always known in my heart that people with power would only see my gift as a toy, once used and later to be thrown away, after I lost my usefulness. I leaned in towards him smiling a sickly sweet smile, my voice dripping with fake kindness.

"Yes, I know how useful I am." And with that I lifted my knee and with all my strength and kneed him in the crotch. At this the old man fell to the floor wailing in pain, what a baby.

"You brought this on yourself LeBlanc." I felt a strange sense of déjà vu, before me I could see a young black haired girl, her face twisted into a malicious grin, Lola, why do these people keep repeating my worst fears? "Men, take her by force." At this the fifteen men behind Roy, who had remained as silent as a group of men can stepped forwards looking excited about what was about to happen. Now I'm sure I mentioned before that I'm agile, but surely I cannot escape men who were previously pretending to take this serious.

I decided that instead of running I would shock them, I let out the loudest scream I could muster.

"HELP!!" I could hear it carrying into the town and across the ocean that spread out behind me, a barrier of water that stopped my escape. The youngest member of the group decided to attack while I was off guard, launching himself at me in a primitive, animalistic way. I dodged quickly and gracefully to his dismay. Now the other marines decided it was time to get involved they began to grab at me and some trying to rugby tackle me. I avoided most of them, others scraping at me. It was at the moment that the largest marine was about to attack me that I felt it. I could feel that stinging in my eyes and the ache in my neck. Before everything went black all I could see was a fist three seconds away from my stomach promising pain when it reached its destination.


	6. I'm too proud for you!

Authors comments- Hey I'm not sure how good I am at writing about violence so I'm sorry--

**Authors comments- Hey I'm not sure how good I am at writing about violence so I'm sorry--**

**Recap:**

"**HELP!!" I could hear it carrying into the town and across the ocean that spread out behind me, a barrier of water that stopped my escape. The youngest member of the group decided to attack while I was off guard, launching himself at me in a primitive, animalistic way. I dodged quickly and gracefully to his dismay. Now the other marines decided it was time to get involved they began to grab at me and some trying to rugby tackle me. I avoided most of them, others scraping at me. It was at the moment that the largest marine was about to attack me that I felt it. I could feel that stinging in my eyes and the ache in my neck. Before everything went black all I could see was a fist three seconds away from my stomach promising pain when it reached its destination.**

_I saw a hand extend towards me bathed in green light. I reached for it; my hands were covered with blood, my own? I didn't know. What I did know was that my eyes were closing, where the mans head should have been were the lids of my eyes, casting a black shadow, like a finger over the lens of a picture. My hand clutches at his in a desperation I have never felt. My stomach, which I can feel on the floor beneath me, feels painful. I stop moving for a second, a groan leaves my cracked lips as again my eyes close and darkness envelopes what little light there is left in the night._

Something warm is holding my hand, tickling it softly, affectionately. I open one eye to see a triumphant looking bear of a man above me. I cast my eyes across a few of the men they wear similar expressions. The thing holding my hand isn't as affectionate as I originally thought, in fact suddenly it has become offensive. A red snake of liquid coils across my arm, drying in places, where it is coming from I don't know. Beneath me the soft sand drinks up the liquid hungrily. A voice floats over the sound of waves and the heavy breathing of the men.

"You are sure?"

"Almost certain"

"Almost?" Replies the first voice. The sound of his voice is somewhat feminine in an annoying way, he sounds very nasal and the type of man who feels the need to mock everything you do.

"Well, it isn't something you can really test is it?" The voice previously unknown to me is Roy's.

"Agreed, so how are you so sure?" There was a silence for a moment or two, an image came in to my head of Roy pondering the question.

"To many coincidences. Right before the thing in question she blacks out, it's not normal."

"Agreed." The man replies again. "The commander will be able to tell for us anyway." He continued. In my head I was questioning who they were taking to this 'commander' but in the pessimistic part of my brain I knew it was me. I decided it was time for me to show them real speed. I've heard that when you believe you are in a situation that is certain death your muscles become stronger and you become faster. My body had already decided this wasn't one of those situations. I threw myself forwards regretting it after the pain in my stomach made stars appear before my eyes. Still I begged my body to deal with it and carry on. Working through the blinding pain of a few broken ribs I stumbled forwards, catching myself before I fell, with two hands on the floor I pushed my body forewords running like an animal and catching the previously victorious men off guard. My body wobbled from side to side as I ran making the pain in my stomach worse still. The previously stunned men were now running after me, calling out with loud voices, there feet unnaturally quiet, padded by the silky sand that lay beneath them. I was making great time, I would be away from them soon enough, my destination the small cliff on the left hand side of the beach. If I could keep a steady pace to there I would have time to throw myself off and swim to a secluded area, I've seen it lots of times in films. The small cliff begins to get bigger as I get closer. Almost there. Almost there. Almost-

My toe struck a hidden stone tripping me and sending me headlong into the sand. The men behind me pissed off that their victory was soiled by my running away thrown themselves on top of me in order to incapacitate me. It works, the youngest throws himself at me first grabbing my arm as he falls and squashing it painfully beneath his knees, another bearded man grabs both my legs also landing painfully on the back of my legs, making me scream, I never expected to have such a heavy wait on me. Two of the less organised men merely throw themselves where the previous two marines are; I hear a painful snap, hoping it's not me I close my eyes, thankful for the numbing in my arm. A larger one jumps on my back, squashing my stomach beneath me; I feel the pain of my ribs like a thousand splinters going through my chest. The last one, the one who punched me previously merely stands on my hand, effectively pinning it to the floor and striking a pose at the same time. I bite my lip in order to keep from crying out, I can already feel salty, warm tears falling down my cheeks and into my mouth. I can hear the padding of feet behind me, then standing in front of me. I open my eyes and witness a pair of plain black shoes before my eyes.

"Angel, Angel, Angel." His voice is smothered in a fake caring manner, a voice a mother would use after her child has fallen and scraped their knee, here though there is no care, this man wants something and he wants to humiliate me in order to get it. Now I'm a proud girl, don't get me wrong I really am but I do not give in to people who want to use me in their selfish schemes, maybe I'll change my mind when I'm about to die but here and now I'm not changing my mind. I'm proud enough not to soil my reputation by following after these people. "What are we going to do with you?" He kneels down and cups my chin, lifting it painfully to face him. "Maybe before you were confused Angel. What I'm offering you is not a request it's a command!" He lets my head go and I feel it fall in to the sand, bits of salty grain go into my mouth forcing a disgusted expression to appear on my face. I lift my head up to reply to the disgusting man, but I realise I don't need to. Behind Roy is a glow of green light and silhouetted in the green light is a man I have seen only in my visions. I watch as the silhouette lifts a cross above his head and brings it down with a sickening crunch.


	7. The fight, Who is that man?

Authors notes: Sorry nothing really happens here, I think it's gonna be important later though

**Authors notes: Sorry nothing really happens here, I think it's gonna be important later though.**

**Recap: ****I lift my head up to reply to the disgusting man, but I realise I don't need to. Behind Roy is a glow of green light and silhouetted in the green light is a man I have seen only in my visions. I watch as the silhouette lifts a cross above his head and brings it down with a sickening crunch.**

_A swirl of colours forms around her, the chair, the bed, the chair, the bed. Stopping she wobbles from side to side letting out an excited giggle. The woman standing at the door laughs, it's the laugh you do when you're pretending you're happy. The little girl knew her mommy was not happy. Her daddy was coming home today, he'd been staying with another lady for a while but he would come home today. Her mommy hadn't seen him with the other lady but she had, the other lady was younger than her mommy and her daddy had seemed happy with her. She had told her mommy about the lady and her mommy had seemed sad about it. Things had changed after that, her mommy's smile was a fake one now, why was she pretending._

_A flash in the little girls mind told her of a pain that was to come._

_When her daddy had come home the little girl had been told to play in the other room for a while, she didn't know why. Her birthday was coming up so maybe her mommy and daddy were planning a surprise. She loved surprises. A huge crash was heard from the kitchen where her mommy and daddy were and then raised voices, her mommy shouting and her daddy shouting back, she didn't know why but they sounded angry. Was it because she had seen the nice lady with her daddy? Was the nice lady supposed to be a secret for her birthday, after all her mommy pretended she didn't know about her? Was this all her fault?_

The metal of the sword crashed down on Roy causing a sickening crunch. Somewhere in my heart I felt sadness, I didn't want Roy to be hurt but somewhere else my anger screamed: "He deserves it!" Roy was still alive, covered in blood and coughing uncontrollably but he would survive. The men on top of me removed themselves painfully, preparing to fight. The youngest one was not so eager this time and hung back slightly, it reminded me of when wolves fight but the thought passed me by quickly. I already knew the outcome it was blatantly obvious to me, I wanted to scream don't fight but then thought better of it, other people might have betted on the marines due to the shear number, but they don't have the power I do. I closed my eyes listening to the disgusting sounds coming from the fight. It started with angry shouts of war and ended with sickening shrieks and quiet thuds padded by the sand beneath the falling men. I waited. Throughout the fight the mysterious man of my visions remained completely silent, he made no pain filled noises, no angry noises and no enthusiastic noises either, like a robot. I peaked at the fight a few times, the man merely swatted the grown men away from him like they were flies and a few times I could swear I heard the wind whistling from his direction but still blowing from the direction it was coming from originally. How strange. Silence. I opened my eyes. The men were all on the floor some bleeding others still. I could feel bile rising in my throat. The man from my visions was bent down speaking to a man I had not seen before, they spoke in hushed voices for a while. After some time the man stood up took three steps back as if admiring his work, though I know better than to suspect that notion, the man had obviously been in a lot of fights. I looked at him, seeing him now, fully, for the first time, he seemed so strange, he wore a hat that a musketeer might wear and a strange cloak that was open at the front revealing his bare chest and a large cross. His moustache and beard seemed very French and his eyes were strange to me, like hawk eyes. I watched him closely, darkness beginning to creep across my vision. His head turned to me and slowly he walked in my direction. Bending his long legs he lifted a hand away from his side stretching it towards me. I looked at it for a second and then lifted my own, this time my hand looked worse, bruised and bloody a few fingers were bluer than they used to be and swollen. I clutched at his hand, the pain in my ribs, back and stomach unbearable now. I watched him for a second more before the pain over took me and I passed out.


	8. The man from my visions, Hawkeye

(recap) A sound filled my ears, the sound of soft waves, I was moving with them, rocking back and forth

Authors notes- Finally getting into the real story sorry for the long intro (still not quite there though :S)

(recap) A sound filled my ears, the sound of soft waves, I was moving with them, rocking back and forth. I felt like a child being rocked by my mother back and forth, back and forth, left and right. The wind played a beautiful tune in my ears, promising me a new day and a new hope. I smiled to myself silently, turning over and grabbing for a cover that I didn't have on me, my hand reaches out again, nothing. Suddenly as if a door had been opened piled high with memories that come tumbling down on top of me, squashing me, I saw everything that had happened in the last week. Lola, Marissa. Running away, disappearing, Roy and Angus finding me. My visions: the tree, the sign, the paint, the ice and the horse. "Coincidence" I could hear myself saying loudly and uncomfortably. Men breaking into my room, jumping out of my window, Roy being the marines ring leader. Pain. The man from my visions. Blood. Then an extended hand, a hand I wanted to trust so badly. I watch in slow motion as my own had reaches for the hand before be and everything goes black. An omen? No, I don't think so.

Suddenly I think to myself 'if all that really happened, where am I now?'. This thought takes a moment to process, lingering mockingly, dangling itself before me, unanswerable. The first place I think of is the beach, after all that is the last place I was. I panic for a while wondering where I am, am I dead? Did those marine people get me? Am I back at home in my own bed? Why can I hear the see? My rational thoughts scoff at this and point out the obvious 'open your eyes and see.' My panic stops at this and I almost laugh out loud, of course, all I have to do is see the sand beneath me. I crack one eye open cautiously as if waiting for a trap to spring blinding me again, forcing me to never know where I am, forever lost, surprisingly nothing happens. I open my other eye slowly then blink several times. My eyes swivel from side to side taking in the sight that is in front of me, two green candles assault my eyes immediately but behind them is a spectacular sight, the ocean. A desert of sea changing in front of me. I can't help it, I breath out a sigh of pure awe. The rational question that most of you might ask is 'why am I in the middle of the sea?' and I'm sure that a more intelligent girl than me would ask, instead I just stare out across this glassy liquid reflecting a deeper, darker sky than the one above. Then I feel it, a prickle at the back of my neck, eyes watching me from behind. I turn slowly towards the man. Up close now is the hawk-eyed man from my visions, watching me with his eyes. I open my mouth about to say something and then decide against it, closing it with a snap, it would be better to plan something to say first. I look down at the grey floor beneath me, something catches my eye from next to me, a pure white something. I touch it and feel that it is my arm bandaged delicately in soft, white bandages, I admire the craftsmanship before noticing the ones around my legs and torso. I have a creepy feeling that this man has bandaged me up and as much as I am thankful I still feel a little bit violated. I look down at my clothes in dismay; the ones I had been wearing for school had been so dirty that Roy had bought me some more. The skirt he bought me was now tattered and bloody, the top was ripped in several places and I could feel a disturbing breeze on my back, my coat that I had been wearing when I left the inn was nowhere to be found, interesting I thought. My boots that I had jokingly called 'piratey boots' had been left behind in my room at the inn, due to this fact my toes had been cut badly, the man had not bothered to bandage my feet up, strangely. I could still feel the mans eyes on me, watching me curiously, surely if he is the only man on this raft he needs to navigate, that means paying attention. I suppose though I should thank him after all he did save me, but I don't know what he wants from me. I decide to play dumb and pretend that thought never crossed my mind. I prepare an amazing speech in which my thank you is imbedded in philosophy, fears, dreams and opinions. Instead what comes out is:

"Why did you help me?" My voice is raw with emotion but still seems bored and angry with the man. To make things worse I put a shocked expression on my face while covering my mouth with my hands. Surely this makes me an unthankful, mentally unstable, grubby girl. The man seems slightly amused by my actions; his eyes focus on a strange half globe on his wrist and then back on me, piercing me with his stare.

"I don't know." He answers thoughtfully after a while. This suddenly annoys me. He doesn't know? How can you not know why you helped some one? The man stares off into the distance. I wait until I am calm before attempting to be pleasant with the man.

"I'm Angel, Angel Leblanc." I tell him. He turns to me and answers politely

"I know." This really annoys me, does he not understand the concept of me giving my name him giving his or is he just trying to be rude?

"And your name is?" I stretch out the last word in order to press the question but also appear polite even though I'm seething inside.

"Dracule Mihawk." He answers passively. His eyes refocus on the sea and mine travel across the raft. It suddenly occurs to me this thing is shaped like a coffin.

"Why is" I begin but before I can even finish my sentence I feel a familiar stinging in my eyes and ache in my neck, everything goes black and I feel my eyes go wide.

_Before me stems an island covered with trees and beautiful green plants, like an emerald surrounded by dark blue silk._

"_So uncaring of where they are" Mihawk states, slightly amused, however much more annoyed than I would have expected._

"_Who?" I ask. He turns to me and smiles slightly, his lips turning up at the corners a millimetre or so._

"_An old rival of mine." He replies a reflective look in his piercing eyes. I stop at this, why is he taking me with him to fight someone, surely it's dangerous; perhaps he doesn't care for my safety. I don't push the question, it would be rude if I did and the man seems strong, I don't want to annoy him. I watch as we pull closer to the shoreline, watching as the shimmering sand gets within touching distance and the raft grates across the ground like a large concrete fish seeking sanctuary on land. I step clumsily out of the raft and onto the soft sand feeling it soothing in between my toes. As we walk towards the trees he stops suddenly causing me to stop also._

"_Do not be fooled," He states, not turning to me. "He is not as weak as he may seem." I ponder the meaning of this, is the man we are about to see dangerous? Surely if he is a rival of Mihawk he must be strong and if he's still alive well…_


	9. Trust? My rival, did you see him?

Recap- "Why is" I begin but before I can even finish my sentence I feel a familiar stinging in my eyes and ache in my neck, eve

Recap- "Why is" I begin but before I can even finish my sentence I feel a familiar stinging in my eyes and ache in my neck, everything goes black and I feel my eyes go wide.

…

"_Do not be fooled," He states, not turning to me. "He is not as weak as he may seem." I ponder the meaning of this, is the man we are about to see dangerous? Surely if he is a rival of Mihawk he must be strong and if he's still alive well…_

I feel myself coming back to reality, my hair tangling itself around my neck pulling at the unbrushed locks. My eyes close for a second processing the vision, filing it away for future references, usually my visions aren't that long, I'm not sure how much time has passed. I try to remember what was happening before I had my vision. Mihawk looks at me a strange look of admiration in his eyes, he turns back to the sea and says

"What a surprisingly useful gift you have." I turn my head so quickly I swear I could hear the wind whip past me.

"W-w-what?" I ask stupidly then I quickly regain coherent thought and state protectively "What gift? I'm just tired!" My usual lie, before this hawkeyed man it does not sound so convincing but still I try backing my statement up with a yawn.

"You have been asleep for three days, you cannot possibly be tired." He replies. Three days. I have been unconscious for three days. I look at him, narrowing my eyes slightly in order to tell whether he is telling the truth. He appears unfazed.

"So," He carries on. "What did you see?" This angers me, how can he talk about this as though it is nothing. He probably just heard it from those crazy men. Yes. He was talking to that man, he has no proof that I'm psychic.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I reply to him. He lets out an amused sigh and looks down at the thing on his wrist. It looks like a compass though it has no north. My eyes fix themselves upon it, I watch it but it does not move, how strange, perhaps we are moving north.

"Are you going to play dumb or are you going to answer me?" He asks looking at me again. "I know what you are." At these words I hear Lola's voice saying 'freak' to me again and again. Then I see dad walking away from me with that woman, he left because he couldn't handle what I had told him, his daughter was a freak. "I know that you can see the future." He stated matter of factly, as though he was telling me that he knew that I had gotten my newspaper or that he had seen that I had a new car. I merely stared at him unable to answer. Finally I looked down at my bare feet unable to face him. He knew what I was. I felt ashamed. I had felt great pride when I had told Lola, after she had told me what an amazing gift it was, she had lied, her young self wanted adventure, I just wanted to be normal. Mihawk seemed to sense my anxiety and did not press the matter any further. I pulled my knees up to my chest and hugged them, watching the sunset before me, sinking into the icy depth of the sea. My first conscious night at sea. I let myself drift away again still feeling extremely tired.

_The little girl watched the man ironing his trousers that he would wear to work the next day. She was desperate for her daddy to play trains with her, he had promised that once he was finished ironing his clothes for work this week he would play with her. She sat on the floor before him waiting patiently, inside she was extremely excited. Her mommy and daddy had promised that for her birthday, which was in a month and half's time she would be allowed the new lego pirate set. Her daddy and her loved playing with lego, her daddy always made the best things like houses and boats with flags, aeroplanes and cars but she wasn't good at any of that stuff. Suddenly she felt a heat in her eyes and a pain her neck. The world went dark, it always frightened her when this happened, she was frightened of the dark._

_-In her mind she saw something above her daddy fall and hit him on the back of the head, at first she wanted to laugh, her daddy could be so clumsy sometimes, when his body collapsed to the floor to breathing coming out in gasps she realised this was serious, her daddy was in pain.-_

_She watched again as the thing began to fall. She screamed for her daddy to move. He looked shocked and after a moment, which to her felt like a life time, he moved, The heavy file hit the floor with an earth shaking bang causing the girl to cry out in fear. Her daddy asked her how she knew and so she told him. He was the first person she ever told, the first person she truly relied on. Her secret had blossomed into the world and now rested in her daddy's hands._

I open my eyes slowly, lifting my hands up to rub the sleep from the corners of my droopy eyes. Something falls off my shoulders onto the floor making a soft thug sound as it hits the deck. I pull one hand away from my eye and reach behind me, clutching the soft material in my cold hands. It's a blanket, but I don't remember putting this on I think. My eyes turn to the only other passenger on this small raft, looking determinedly out towards the misty horizon. I wrap myself up again standing up slowly and walking the two strides to the man in the seat.

"I could watch if you want." I say in an attempt to be nice. He shakes his head, keeping his eyes on the horizon, waiting for something.

"We're almost there." He says more to himself than me. I want to believe that it is somewhere other than the fight he is going to have soon. I wait for him to elaborate but he doesn't, Mihawk is a strange man like that, he leaves it to the imagination. After a few minutes in silence he turns to me and says

"So would you care to tell me what you saw?" This again I think slightly annoyed and yet also relieved. This man has after all saved me and he is much older than I.

"You believe that I am psychic beyond any doubt?" I ask thoughtfully. He nods in a thoughtfully. "Then I will tell you that I merely know our destination." He laughs in spite of himself.

"I see." He replies "And did you see him?" He asks.


	10. That's impossible!

Recap- "You believe that I am psychic beyond any doubt

**Recap- "You believe that I am psychic beyond any doubt?" I ask thoughtfully. He nods in a thoughtfully. "Then I will tell you that I merely know our destination." He laughs in spite of himself.**

"**I see." He replies "And did you see him?" He asks.**

"No." I reply simply. He nods and turns his head back to the sea. I can feel questions bubbling up inside me that I want to ask. One slips out before I can catch it, before I can hold my tongue. "How did you know I was psychic?" In reality I believe it was the man that told him, the man he was talking to that night when he rescued me. I wait for his response. He appears to be trying to word what he wants to say in his head carefully.

"It was odd at first, I was on my boat sailing towards a ship and I felt a strange presence that smelt of vanilla perfume. The ship I was sailing past was called the 'Marion'" I suck in a breath in deep shock, my first ever vision of this man, all I got was a glimpse of his boat and the name of the ship he was going past. He offers a slight smile and I smile back feeling comforted and yet still uneasy that people know when I see their futures. "It happened several more times. When I was near the beach where I found you I felt something strange." I looked at him waiting for him to continue, his eyes focused on my strange ones, I let my eyes drop to the floor again, waiting for him to continue. "I was just about the move on past that island when I felt something strange, a stinging in my eyes and an ache in my neck." I lifted my head up quickly, staring directly at him, my mouth hanging slightly open. "I heard someone scream for help in my mind and then a pain in my chest as though my ribs had been broken." I'm almost passed myself now; did I somehow connect my mind to his? I don't understand. "Then I smelt that same smell of vanilla, stronger that time though, it was almost like a trail, directly to you." I smile to myself. When dad used to live with mom and me, before Sarah was born, dad and I used to eat vanilla ice cream all the time, mom used to shout at him and tell him it was bad for me. Later after he left I began to associate the scent with happiness, I guess I forgot that I still wear vanilla perfume.

It felt strange that I had somehow sent what was happening to me to him.

"How- I don't understand…" I say slowly looking at the floor as if the answer is written beneath my feet. To my dismay it isn't.

"Did you not call to me?" He asks in a straight forwards manner. I nod a yes to the ground beneath me. "And I heard what was happening in my mind, what is there not understand?" He asked as though this were a simple maths question of two plus two equals four, instead of the difficult algebraic question I could see in my mind where two X and nine Y equals me somehow conveying what's happening in my life to him.

"That's impossible." I answer shortly. He scoffs at me, turning his head slightly in my direction and saying in a mocking way

"You have visions of the future and you believe it is impossible for your thoughts to be shared with me?" I suddenly burst out laughing, when put like that to a normal person it must look like I'm really weird. These thoughts depress me slightly too. To a normal person, I will never be one of those people. Mihawk seemed to sense my depression over something and let me be. The day passed on uneventfully, a few times a fish passed under the raft causing me to become excited and Mihawk to have to pretend that he had never witnessed a fish sailing under the boat before. Over all despite his serious nature I liked the man, he was cool and collected when the weather changed rapidly from thunderstorms to snow to extreme heat. He remained philosophical after I accidentally ate his lunch and after a few questions too many he merely refused to talk. Finally a few hours before sun set I saw it, a shining emerald of an island, shining in the midst of a dark silk sea.

"So uncaring of where they are." Mihawk stated in an annoyed voice, a hint of amusement crossed his voice due to me accidentally hitting myself in the face with a fish I had caught, after faffing about for a while, fearing killing the poor creature the fish obviously got impatient.

"Due to the fact I already know what you're going to say," I replied to his previous comment, Mihawk smiled slightly at this comment and waited patiently for me to carry on. "But I don't like to mess with future conversations so- who?" Mihawk let out a quiet chuckle.

"An old rival of mine." He answered visibly less passionately than the first time he said it. We pulled up to the shore, the boat scraping against the sand in an eerie fashion. In my vision we had been here a lot earlier and the surrounding area wasn't so dark. I clambered out of the boat trying this time not to make a fool out of myself, my wish was granted. I followed after Mihawk ready for him to stop and tell me the details of his rivals. As I was walking cautiously I could swear I could hear a disturbing sound in the trees, a muffled animal of some sort squealing. Mihawk stopped suddenly and I stopped immediately after him.

"Do not be fooled, he is not as weak as he may seem." He says his back to me, almost as though he is speaking to himself. I follow him silently waiting for this rival. This amazing man, who has somehow survived Mihawk's judgement many times. This man who is obviously practiced in the art of fighting to such an extent that he can avoid Mihawk's blows. This man that I am imagining cannot be seen anywhere in this shocking rabble of men. The first question I have takes a detour, born where ever stupid questions come from and comes straight out of my mouth.

"Why is everyone dressed like a pirate?" Mihawk looks at me for a second before turning to the red haired man in the middle of the group.


	11. The red haired man and Mihawk

Recap: "Why is everyone dressed like a pirate

**Recap: "Why is everyone dressed like a pirate?"**

Mihawk looked at me for a second then back to the red haired man in the centre of the rabble of men. I looked at the men sat nearest to the red haired man. A large man sat next to him eating a slab of meat, he reminded me of a clown I'd seen once although slightly more offensive and I would never ask him to tell me a joke.

"Oh, I get it, It's a party" I say half to myself but mostly to Mihawk, glad to have sorted that out, I have a fear of appearing stupid in front of people, a fear that is frequently recognised. Some of the members of the party look over in our direction, a hint of a blush on their cheeks telling me immediately that they are drunk. I look up at Mihawk waiting for an explanation, he gives none.

"What brings you here?" Shouts the red haired man. Mihawk looks at him and smiles slightly, though a sober look remains on his face keeping his expression serious and formal.

"Not to fight a one armed man if that's what you're asking." He replies. It's then that I notice that beneath the red haired man's cloak he only has one arm visible. What a poor man I think to myself, though I'm sure there have been worse cases than his. The man himself looks fit and able, like a fire fighter or perhaps a man in the army. The he does not appear to be offended by the last comment, on the contra, in fact he laughs at the comment. "I wish to speak with you alone." Mihawk finally says to him. The red haired man stands slowly brushing himself off and walks towards the trees that Mihawk and I have just come from. "Angel," Mihawk turns to me looking me directly in the eye, "stay here, and stay out of trouble." He says seriously. I wonder if Mihawk is really going to fight that man, if they are rivals surely they can't talk civilly, like Marissa and I who often fight, though verbally when we see each other. I sit on the floor where I had been standing previously, still pondering the strange dress that these men are wearing. I hear Mihawk make his way through the trees to the red haired man.

Some of the other men are strange. A man is sitting near to where the red haired man was sitting previously; he appears to be slightly tipsy but not too bad, not like some of the men. I almost scream in shock when I see the gun hanging at his side shining in the lines of red sunlight that fall from the leaves. Looking around though all of the men here have a weapon of some sort. I begin to get slightly panicked by this. I have seen gang warfare on the T.V. but never in person, I never felt the need to look for this sort of thing. I also didn't realise that gangs wore such elaborate get ups. A few of the men look considerably weaker than others. None of the men are particularly flaunting their strength, which is a change, if men have strength they usually tell you about it. I sit pondering these men and what they are doing here with weapons for a while until I feel a strange sensation. My eyes begin to burn painfully and my neck feels stiff and numb, my head swims for a second or two before I feel myself collapse to the floor.

_He can't be that old about seventeen or eighteen, I know that like the vision of the boat with Mihawk I'm not really here. He steps forwards waiting for a second or two behind the great trunk of an oak tree. I follow him peaking around the corner of the tree. Mihawk stands talking to the red haired man about something I can't quite hear. The boy waits until the red haired man has gone through the clearing in the trees before attacking Mihawk, who has turned his back on the oak tree. I expect him to merely swat the boy away with his sword but the boy uses some device in order to deflect his attack. I stand with my feet stuck to the floor watching Mihawk fall._

I awake with a start. The man who I was observing previously with the dreadlocks and gun stands over me, he must have turned me over while I was unconscious. I sit up suddenly with a start saying something incoherent about me being tired. The man tries to press me back down to the floor but I roll away quickly claiming I need to talk to Mihawk about something.

"The captains talking to him!" Says one of the men as if I don't know. I ignore him; I don't have time for this. I huffily walk in the same direction as the red haired man and Mehawk. When I get through the clearing I realise that going back the way we came gives me two roots, I simply stand for a moment questioning divine intervention, surely whatever gods there are must not want me to help this man. I observe the roots carefully. One root lays before me covered with snapped twigs and leaves, covered by a canopy of large, thick trunked trees. The other is open and airy, the floor is a matter of leaves but the root can be seen due to the lack of trees above. I try to remember the area that surrounded the red haired man and Mihawk in my vision. I remember the oak tree and next to that tree was a thinner tree. And the floor was covered with orange leaves, I curse myself for never looking at the surroundings properly. I look from side to side both clearings have a slight bedding of orange leaves. I look again side to side trying to remember anything that might lead me to remember where the three men are. After several painful minutes of thinking I decide to let my instincts choose my path. I turn towards the left root covered with trees and letting no light in. I run quickly trying to hear any voices, none, only the sound of my feet and rattling breath can be heard. I run around the surrounding area a few times wearing my already exhausted self out, desperate to find Mihawk and the red haired man. I run to the other root only to find that Mihawk isn't there either. I run around the surrounding area listening for anything at all, nothing again. I stand for a moment or two wanting to cry and scream at my own inability in this situation. This is my chance to repay Mihawk and I can't even find him. I sit on the floor leaning forwards and rocking backwards praying to whatever gods there are that I will get there on time. Mihawk is a strong man, there aren't going to be many, if any times I can pay him back and yet here in this situation I can't even find him.

I close my eyes gently, relaxing myself and cooling down my bubbling fears. Rationality still does not return but it lends me its latest motto for a moment 'he has to be somewhere' sitting with my eyes closed and listening to any sounds I can hear. I suddenly feel it, a sensation I've felt before, a strange smell of copper blood mixed with salt water and another scent I've never smelt before. I follow it carefully like a dog. Picking up my speed slightly as I reach a clearing in the trees, I see a large cross appearing out of the leaves, I begin to run towards Mihawk. I watch in horror as the red haired man walks into the clearing and Mihawk turns his back on the oak tree. I feel myself speeding up, my feet no longer touching the ground, merely brushing against it. The man throws himself out from behind the tree. I close my eyes waiting for Mihawk to attack him, still running forwards with all my speed. Throwing myself haphazardly in the offending mans direction. I feel the vibration run through me as I go headlong into the ground.


	12. I killed Mihawk!

After the incident her daddy avoided her pretending he was at long business meetings and on business trips

_After the incident her daddy avoided her pretending he was at long business meetings and on business trips. The little girl thought it was strange, her daddy had never been this busy before, but he was a good man and he worked hard. He was the best daddy in the world to her and if doing his work was important she was not going to stop him. The little girls daddy started to look sick and pale. She had heard him pacing around the house in the early hours of the morning, determined to talk to him the little girl got up too. When she arrived in the sitting room her daddy declared he had a meeting and left swiftly. In her mind this never seemed odd, even with her powers her six year old mind could not imagine what was going through his._

The two men stood across from each other. Both looked slightly relaxed but still waiting for something. The swordsman stroked his beard for a second before looking up at the tipsy man in front of him.

"I've been followed here," he stated, not caring much for this fact, just stating that this problem existed. The red haired pirate nodded in either acknowledgement or agreement, the previous silly look on his face was gone and was replaced by a serious expression that marred his happy, scarred face. The more serious of the two continued, "I came here because I need you to look after the girl." The pirate looked up shocked for a moment but quickly hid his expression and again nodded. "The follower in question is behind the tree." He again stated this as a fact though both he and the pirate knew this. He showed no emotion when making these claims. "We will pretend as if we do not know of his existence." The pirate seemed happy with this and this time smiled and nodded, turning towards the clearing and walking away from the swordsman, in just a few steps he was out of sight. The swords man sniffed the air, smelling a particular fragrance of vanilla. He turned his back on the tree, knowing that the intruder would make his move soon. As he had expected the boy jumped out from behind the tree. The swordsman grabbed his sword ready to attack the boy. Swinging his sword towards the boy he saw a familiar blonde blur throwing itself into the back of the boy, but not before the weapon in the boys hand collided with the swordsman sending him flying backwards into a tree.

I looked up from the floor beneath me, feeling a trickle of blood fall from my split lip. In front of me lay Mihawks body. I stared at him, sword in hand ready to attack. I felt a whimper leave my throat. I'd aided in killing Mihawk, the man who had saved me! The boy who had actually killed him stood up a few centimetres away from me looking triumphantly through the mud covering his face. He looked at me smiling a cocky half smile. I stared back at him feeling an overwhelming sadness, I didn't really know Mihawk at all, in fact to begin with he frightened me but I didn't want him to die.

"Funny," The boy said wiping the mud from his face with his hands. "They said if I targeted your companions you'd show up, I didn't really believe them." He laughed to himself. I sat there feeling stupid and manipulated. Then a feeling forced it's way upon me, a feeling that was familiar yet strange to me. A feeling that grew inside of me like a lead balloon, popping after it filled my entire body, the bang caused me to want to hurt this boy so badly. My fists itched to hit him repetitively, to make him bleed. My eyes fell to the sword still held by Mihawk, the dust that had flown up in our fall still falling over him like a blanket, a sickening dust that made his body look uncared for, a corpse left to rot. Prying the sword from his amazingly warm fingers I lifted the heavy wait. The boy laughed mockingly at me, as if daring me to try it, I did. I swung the sword haphazardly missing him and instead hitting a tree. I tried again this time he stopped the blade with his hands jumping backwards at the same time. Beneath my feet the leaves danced, my eyes followed a few of them sending me into a trance. My feet followed the leaves, swinging the blade with more precision now, the boy was no longer smiling but concentrating on where I would hit next. I swung for his legs and he flipped himself over the blade. I jabbed at his chest and he merely jumped backwards. I started aiming for his weaker spots and as I did I smelt the strangest thing, copper blood, salty water and a strange scent I had never smelt before. As I was attacking I became intoxicated with this smell and everything went gradually black.

I felt myself move forwards quickly, and then backwards, my hands touched the floor, my bare feet raised to the sky. I jabbed at something. I felt as though my body was moving incredibly fast, like the wind, weaving with mad precision. I felt something in my hand collide with something solid again and again and again. What a strange dream.

My eyes fluttered open, I was leaning on Mihawks sword, which had been implanted into the ground. I looked around and saw specks of blood covering the forest floor. What happened here? Mihawk sat on the ground where he had been laid previously. I stared at him for a second opening my mouth now and then hoping for a coherent sentence to appear. Why was he not dead?

"Are you finished?" He asked casually as if I had not fallen asleep on his sword.

"I'm sorry." I say to him. "I was sure I was fighting that guy but I must have fallen asleep." I look at my feet in disgrace. "Am I" I pause trying to think of a better word for it, there is none. "Dead?" I finish quietly. Mihawk smiles slightly, he lifts himself from the floor gracefully holding out a hand for his sword, I move away from it slowly allowing him to pull it from the ground. I feel somewhat light headed now.

"I see." Says a calm voice from behind me, making me jump. "He was after her." I turn to the red haired man who is leaning against a tree in the clearing sipping out of a bottle of sake. I look from Mihawk to him waiting for an explanation, it's then that I see it, a body covered with blood hidden just behind a tree, the chest of the boy no longer rises and falls, it remains still. Sticky with blood.

"Who did that?" I ask looking from one man to another. The red haired man looks at me with pity in his eyes but Mihawk looks at me with an anxious expression. He opens his mouth and the word I hear shock me to the core.


	13. I am not a murderer!

Recap: It's then that I see it, a body covered with blood hidden just behind a tree, the chest of the boy no longer rises and f

**Recap: It's then that I see it, a body covered with blood hidden just behind a tree, the chest of the boy no longer rises and falls, it remains still. Sticky with blood.**

"**Who did that?" I ask looking from one man to another. The red haired man looks at me with pity in his eyes but Mihawk looks at me with an anxious expression. He opens his mouth and the word I hear shock me to the core.**

The world slows down for a second threatening to stop, freezing me in this place, in this time.

"You did." Mihawk answers. His voice is absent of any feelings at all and for once I'm glad. I can tell he isn't judging me. I wait for a second before I realise I have an alibi, I was out cold throughout the second part of the battle, the real murderer is not me.

"But I was unconscious!" I half scream at him. Of all the dirty low life tricks, how dare he blame this on me! I wait, he blinks at me waiting for my emotions to pass, they don't truly pass but they run from my face into my stomach, boiling my insides painfully. He pulls the blade from his back pointing the sharp edge at me, millimetres from my flesh. A sticky strawberry substance falls from it dropping to the floor. I absent-mindedly lift my hand up to the sharp, soiled blade pulling my finger across it gently, the substance is thick and runny yet not solid at all. It soaks into my skin seeking refuge within me and dries slightly where I touched the blade. I pull my hand up to my nose smelling the liquid. The thought of that sent flows back into my mind, reminding me of how I smelt it before I passed out. It smells like copper and I pull my hand from my face as if burnt. Mihawk watches me carefully, his eyes following my slow movements as if waiting for me to break down, I don't. I stand silently staring at my hand, more precisely my finger sticking out offensively, covered with that boy's blood. Mihawk still does not speak he simply waits for me to make a move.

"This smell." I say more to myself than him. The red haired man now looks at me, his face remains solemn as if attending a close friends funeral. "It's that same smell." I touch the blood with the palm of my other hand as if this will answer my questions, it doesn't.

"What smell?" The red haired man asks, prompting me to continue my incoherent thoughts. I remain silent, not ignoring him merely pondering what I mean.

"I smelt it." I say in a trance like state watching how quickly it dries to the palm of my hand, remaining forever in my skin. "I smelt it before I passed out." I reply. The man surprises me as he looks up quickly with a confused expression.

"You didn't pass out at all." He says as if reminding me that I am confused with another event. Why is he trying to pin this murder on me? I was unconscious when the boy died it wasn't my fault, was it? My anger does not boil this time, I remain calm still watching the blood on my hand, though all of it has dried now and begun to flake. Mihawk shares a knowing look with the man and the man nods stepping back a few paces as if giving Mihawk a silent signal.

"It has been a long day." Mihawk states, still void of any emotion. "We need to rest." The red haired man nods again and I silently agree also, though I have been asleep for a while I still feel tired and my muscles ache as if my body has been under strain, I put this down to stress after all this world is so much worse than my own. Mihawk walks through the clearing, I follow silently and the red haired man follows after me.

The men who were previously sat drinking are now all sat waiting for the red haired man to rejoin them. I smile, this man must be important to them. The man sits back on the rock he was sat on when we first met him. This time I take in his appearance. He seems young, older than twenty yet younger than forty. His hair is longer than the average mans but he fits in well among his friends. Three scars lay across his right eye yet his face remains handsome for his age. I smile if only my dad had aged so gracefully.

I feel a hand on my back I turn to see Mihawk. There is something between us and I don't know what it is but I feel able to communicate with him silently. Here I know he wishes to speak with me alone, I oblige silently of course. He walks with me a few metres from the group and turns swiftly and gracefully; I stop feeling like a clumsy little girl in front of him.

"You will stay with Shanks." He says to me in a commanding voice leaving no room for me to argue, yet I do.

"I will not." I reply angrily, how dare he think I will stay here with this 'Shanks' who I don't even know and expect me not to argue. I trusted him, how dare he leave me now! "I don't even know who this 'Shanks' is." I protest loudly causing a few gasps from the men nearest to me; I ignore them, angry that they are listening to a private conversation.

"Shanks is the red haired pirate." He replies to me, his voice remaining in a monotone. This gets me even more angry, now he's playing me for a fool, I knew I shouldn't have trusted him, after all once bitten twice shy.

"Pirates don't exist!" I scream at him before storming off into the trees angrily. I see a few of the men's heads turn to me a look of shock on their faces. Once out of view of the party of men I break into a run getting as far away from them all as possible. Finally after about five minutes of exhausting weaving through trees I reach a satisfactory moss covered ground where I curl up and close my eyes letting the curtain of sleep fall over me.

_The little girl wasn't supposed to be outside, her daddy had told her to stay in by herself but she was frightened of the cupboard monster and so had left. She decided to make her way to the village square to look around the shops. She had walked here lots of times with her mommy and she used to with her daddy too, that was until he was too busy with work of course. She walked towards the chemist; her mommy said that's where sick people got medicine. Through the window she couldn't see any tablets just a few sequined bags, several candles all in different bright colours with pictures of flowers and trees on the labels, a patchwork teddy like the one she got for Christmas, crystal ornaments like her grandma has, one was shaped like a beautiful swan in flight. She once read a book with her daddy about a swan, it turned from an ugly duckling that everyone hated into a beautiful swan that everyone loved, they had of course read it before her daddy was too busy with work. Turning quickly so that her dress flared out around her she skipped to the next shop along, a shop name that she couldn't read stood over the window, the gold, swirling letters peeling off from the black sign. Inside the shop there were books with drawn pictures of peoples rooms, material lay on steps and over the steps lay fancy curtains of deep red colours. Wallpaper was cut out and put near the curtains. A photo of a family of three sat in a picture frame nailed to the wall. A little girl was smiling out of the picture being hugged tightly by her mommy and daddy. The little girl smiled at the picture thinking of how this was so much like her mommy and daddy. Again she swung round ready to go to the next shop window when she saw someone she recognised. Her daddy with a lady she didn't know. The lady was pretty; she was younger than her mommy but older than her next-door neighbour. The lady held tightly on to her daddy's arm and for a second the little girl felt jealous until she saw her daddy smile at the lady kindly, like he used to smile at her mommy, the little girl was excited, did this mean her daddy didn't have to work as much anymore now that he was happy again? Did this mean her daddy would play trains with her again? She hoped so because she missed her daddy very much._


	14. Mihawk did it!

Authors notes- This chapter isn't particularly important however please read it, also don't skip the bits in italics and stars

Authors notes- This chapter isn't particularly important however please read it, also don't skip the bits in italics and stars there gonna come in handy later, I think (psychologically any how.)

**Recap: "Pirates don't exist!" I scream at him before storming off into the trees angrily. I see a few of the men's heads turn to me a look of shock on their faces. Once out of view of the party of men I break into a run getting as far away from them all as possible. Finally after about five minutes of exhausting weaving through trees I reach a satisfactory moss covered ground where I curl up and close my eyes letting the curtain of sleep fall over me.**

_The little girl watched her mommy carefully, ever since daddy had left her mommy had cried all the time. After a while the little girls grandma had taken her away to stay with her for a few days leaving the little girls mommy all alone. The little girl forced herself to watch her mommy through her visions watching as days and weeks went by. At first the little girl didn't understand, her mommy was getting fatter each time she had a vision and then suddenly after about seven visions she wasn't fat any more. As time went by the little girl's mommy got better and the little girl could stay with her all the time rather than just some times. She was glad because being away from her mommy made her anxious, even though her grandma was really nice to her and spoiled her. The little girl decided to learn a lot more than the other children at school, she had discovered she had the gift of being able to pick up languages quickly from people who spoke the language she was learning and so the little girl flourished. Her mommy was happy every single time the little girl told her of the new things she had learnt and though her mommy thought it was strange she told her that she had a gift for learning things, the little girl never let her secret slip, her mommy was too busy to deal with the little girl. Gradually her mommy got bigger and bigger and after three months her mommy got really sick and had to go to the hospital. When her mommy came back home again she was sad, the little girl didn't understand and her mommy never told her why she was sad._

I felt something soft under my back and something warm above me, for a moment I thought I was back at home in my soft warm bed. Cracking an eye open I saw that the walls were not the light lavender that mine were nor were there pictures of my six-year-old self with my mom and dad. The room had plain wooden flooring with red walls, no knickknacks or pictures marred the walls and the room was completely bare of any personal items. Lifting myself up I looked around the room trying to decide where I was. I had fallen asleep in a mossy patch now I was here in this warm room. I lifted myself from under the covers swinging my legs over the side of the bed and touching the floor with my warm bare feet; I tensed up slightly, the cold entering me through my toes. I pulled my arms above my head stretching widely and yawning silently. I stood up, wobbling slightly as I made my way across the large room to the large wooden door. I felt something strange. Looking down I could see that someone had redressed me, changing my bandages, which had gotten muddy when I had gone to save Mihawk. My clothes were now clean and not ripped. I wore a simple tight white shirt that I swiftly unbuttoned to a reasonable height on my body allowing cool air to wash over my boiling hot skin. A simple skirt that had obviously been made quickly as it seemed to be frayed and the left over thread tickled at my legs. The skirt hugged my hips remaining miraculously, if I may say so, attached to my body. Deciding that I was relatively pleased with these new clothes they were much better than my previous blood soaked ones. I carried on towards the door grasping the cool handle in my hands, pulling it roughly as I made my way out of the warm room. What stood before me was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, the bow of a ship that had railings of a pure red flowed before me and came to a magnificent point. I have never been on a ship before in my life, standing here the sun beating down on me, the wind blowing my tangled locks, the sound of the sea crashing against the great beast of a boat I felt truly at home. My cares somehow just dissipated, diluting into the sea that lay spread out before me. Though I should have been afraid of where I was, I could not help but run to the end of the ship and bend double over the edge, almost screaming in delight as I saw the dolphins in front dancing and weaving, laughing with me. I heard footsteps behind me and then a booming laugh, I turned to sea the red haired man from yesterday, Shanks I think Mihawk called him.

"So," he said greeting me with a smile and coming to the bow also, leaning over the edge he carried on "You're awake." I nodded silently feeling slightly less confident than I had yesterday with Mihawk by my side. Forget Mihawk I told myself, I don't need anyone to trust in, I've always got by alone. Shanks turned his head to me a smile still plastered on his face. I turned to him hoping that my voice would sound as confident as his, sadly this plan failed and I could only compare myself to a frightened mouse.

"Where's Mihawk?" I asked quietly. The man looked at me, a thoughtful look covering his face.

"He left this morning," He answered slowly, watching me carefully. "He said he had some business to attend to and that you should stay with us during his time away." I felt slightly angry at this, I was not a child any more I did not need to be baby-sat by this man and his band of misfits. Instead of arguing I simply let my shoulders fall, defeated; Mihawk could be halfway across the sea by now besides it wasn't shanks's fault that he left me here.

"He told me to explain what happened yesterday to you." Shanks said, as if this might make me feel better, surprise, surprise it didn't. I gave him a look that said carry on and so he did. "When you took Mihawk's sword you somehow hypnotised yourself into using his moves, it was rather bizarre actually." I scoffed at this I didn't hypnotise myself and I didn't kill that boy either!

"I didn't kill that boy!" I replied to him angrily.

"No." He agreed, "No you didn't, Mihawk did." And with that he turned and left me to my thoughts. Somewhere in the back of my mind cogs were turning telling me that though this man had told me the truth he had withheld information, important information. And so with invisible hands I began to put the jigsaw pieces together, starting with the repetition of this pirate idea, by law if different people talk about the same thing there must be some truth in it.


	15. What do 'pirates' do?

Author's notes- finally got a bit of inspiration to write more… I hope it comes out as well or better so here goes

**Author's notes- finally got a bit of inspiration to write more… I hope it comes out as well or better so here goes.**

Putting the jigsaw that was my separate thoughts together left large pieces of the picture empty. What did pirate mean exactly, was it a term or did they mean it in the historical way? This was one of the major questions. Why did Mihawk blame that boys death on me if it was him who was the murderer? Why did Shanks take me in if he and Mihawk were old rivals? I decided it was high time I got some answers. I found myself sneaking about the ship like a thief looking for treasure, I wasn't sure if there were places on the ship that I wasn't allowed in, what I did know though was that no matter what I would find out what I wanted even if I had to will myself to have a vision. Finally after wandering about for a while I found my first victim, the large man from yesterday standing and eating a chicken leg, where did he get that from anyway?

"Hi there lass are you lost?" He asked, ripping the skin from the chicken like an animal. I smiled at him a cunning side coming out in me I would question him first.

"No. No, I'm fine I was just wondering where we were headed." I answered putting my most earnest face on. He looked somewhat uncomfortable before answering:

"Where ever the logpose takes us." I looked at him questioningly for a while.

"What's a logpose?" He looked at me in return as though I was mad before shrugging and explaining what the navigational device was. "Oh." I said finally getting what he was saying. "So like SatNav?" I asked him smiling; sure I'd got what he was saying. He looked even more confused now.

"What's SatNav?" He asked so it was my turn to explain.

"So what are we gonna do when we get to the next island?" I asked getting straight back to the point, what do 'pirates' do I thought to myself as I waited for his almost instant reply.

"We're gonna go drinking of course." He replied as though it should be obvious. I was expecting him to say something like 'steal all their stuff' or 'kill all the men' seemed to me that the pirates weren't like the traditional pirates.

"So that's what 'pirates' do?" I asked almost angry that there was nothing more to these men than drinking and sailing about on a big ship. In return to my question he shrugged his shoulders again and walked off waving his hand behind him. This was going to be so boring, I was too young to drink so I couldn't join them and too bored of such trivial matters. I suddenly felt an unbelievable pain like someone had hit me in the back of my neck with a knife and my eyes began to itch and go dry. My world turned black. I sank into the future, melting into it like wet ink watching from a place that I didn't belong to, stood on the waves.

_I watched as a slightly smaller ship with cannons approached the massive ship that I was currently residing in, in fact I could see myself hanging over the railings at the front watching the fish and laughing as one jumped so high I could almost touch it. The smaller ship was too far away for the 'pirates' (as they called themselves) to see. I felt myself try to move forward, to run and shout to the crew of the larger ship. Seventeen massive cannons were aimed at the big, beautiful ship. I saw my future self look up and then immediately after drape over the railings, having a vision, they were so inconvenient sometimes. The cannons shot through the ship at the bottom, the water soaking into the previously sturdy ship, a rain of another seventeen shot down the mast. I looked behind me, hearing a different noise, another boat was appearing, I could make the letters out on this one 'Marine'._

"_They got 'em. They got the 'red haired pirates.'" Cheered one of the men enthusiastically._

"_Don't forget our part." A large bear like man replied, he looked familiar to me almost like the man from before, the one that had punched me when I was having a vision. "We need to get the girl alive or else the captain'll be furious." He looked frightened of this captain man and I couldn't understand why._

"_Hey." Another one said coming to the side of his friends as he watched the frightening show before us as Shank's ship started to sink to the bottom of the ocean. "Do you guys smell vanilla?"_

I woke with a start. We were going to be attacked. I ran off in a random direction, running through hallways before finally running headlong into a red haired man.

"Oof" We both said at the same time, the man managed to stay upright but I fell straight to the floor. Normally I would have caught myself before I fell but my legs were barely holding me up from the strain of an out of body vision. I had never really had a vision of myself before and was slightly freaked by it.

"I'm so sorry." I said standing up, truth be told I wasn't sorry at all, I would have pushed him over and carried on if I had the strength but right now I didn't. The man made an mmm noise and bent down, holding a hand out to me I took it shakily standing on my painful legs. "I don't suppose you know where Shanks is do you?" I asked politely, hiding the desperation in my voice. He looked thoughtful with me screaming hurry up numbskull in my brain.

"Yeah I do." He replied, giving me a slight smile as he did so.

"Could you…" I blushed a little. "Could you take me to him?" I asked again politely, no urgency in my voice. He nodded curtly and led me off down another set of dark corridors, if I hadn't been in such a rush I might have worried where exactly he was taking me.

"Rockstar." He said to me pointing at himself. I could only guess that his first words were either I am or my name is.

"Angel." I replied less than interested in where the conversation was headed.

It seemed that Shanks either enjoyed being too out of the way for people to find or this was his room. I knocked loudly on the door willing my courage to bubble so that I could remain confident.

"Come in." Came a happy and dare I say drunk voice. I walked into the room to find Shanks and a few of the crewmembers all sat in the large room surrounded by sake. Only one man remained sober, his hair was grey and short though his face lacked wrinkles, he wasn't old but just not young either. "Angel!" Shanks said excitedly pulling up a seat next to him, I shook my head; he wouldn't be sat for long.

"I have disturbing news." I said carefully wanting to hurry this along before my vision came true. Shanks became sober again almost instantly, as did the other crewmembers that sat round the table, the already sober man became deadly serious, no smile on his face, no expression at all. "This ship is going to sink if you don't act fast." I finished. The man whom I had questioned earlier snorted into yet another chicken leg but Shanks did not share his humour.

"When?" He asked me serious beyond anything I had seen of him. "Who?"

"I don't know." I replied to him feeling ashamed. "All I know is that just before the event happens I'm going to have a vision, you have about half a minute to act during that time. The marines will be directly in front of the ship just beyond the mist, in fact if you look hard enough you should be able to see them." I replied to him. There was a quiet conversation going on discussing the authenticity of my claim and also my visions. Shanks however had no time for such words.

"Get the crew together." He shouted heading towards the deck as several of the men from the room ran to different parts of the ship gathering crewmen. I was running up on deck, following the 'Captain' when I felt it again pushing at my already aching body, I wasn't ready for another vision. I could see through my stinging eyes that the 'pirates' weren't ready for this.

"Shanks" I screamed at the top of my lungs to let him know what was going on before I fell into the world of the future again.


	16. My visions are Killing me!

I had never felt so odd, like I was floating in and out of two realities that were fighting for dominance of the future. In one such future I was laughing and cheering with the other men of the 'Pirate' crew and in the other reality I was being taken by the marine's.

"_The ships sinking, grab the girl now!" Shouted one of the men on the 'Marines' Ship. I could see them heading towards me in a smaller boat as fast as possible. Shanks had his only arm draped over me, holding me safely to him so that the marines couldn't get me, I was terrified in a state of absolute panic. Suddenly I could sense my own mind, I could hear myself screaming for Mihawk, pleading that he would come and save the pirate crew. I had suddenly become so selfless, self sacrificial, I was willing to give myself to those animals if I could just protect these men. But why? I feared my powers being used more than I feared my own demise, I would willingly kill myself in the most painful ways if it meant protecting the future._

_In the other future I saw myself battling a few of the marines that had come aboard the ship. Shanks stood close to me, as did Ben, Shank's first mate. As the last of the men fell, I watched myself fall to the floor exhausted, I could not imagine the pain my future self must be feeling, so many visions in one day and then having to fight, a pirates life was not for me._

"_Angel lass we did it!" Shanks said positively beaming at me, Ben shared the same smile as he hoisted me up and put his arm under my arm. "yeh should go rest lass you look exhausted." I shook my head even though my face was pale and turning gray due to energy use._

"_I'm fine really." I was not at all convinced by my future selfs acts and neither was the future Shanks or Ben. But Shanks was kind enough to treat me like an adult and allow me to do as I wished._

It took a moment before I could hear the sounds of battle once more. I could hear familiar voices shouting 'FIRE!' and then the sound of cannons shooting like fireworks and then an explosion in the distance. As a little time passed I realised something was terribly wrong. I knew that right now I was awake because it no longer felt as though I was floating under water, I could feel the pains in my own body and I could also hear my own laboured breathing. However that was the problem, my breathing was laboured_. Why? _I did not know, but what I did know was that I could no longer move or even open my eyes. In my vision I was walking about fine but in this current reality I was sure that I would die here. I was not afraid, not at all, just a little annoyed. I could tell the future yet when it came to something that really mattered I could not do this one simple thing. I could not defend Mihawk's friend/rival. I was worthless.

So I just laid there hoping that sooner or later someone would realise that there was something wrong. I could hear someone shouting orders 'It doesn't matter just get the girl!' Me. I caused everyone so much trouble, Shanks, Mihawk, My Father and Lola. I felt hands roughly grab me around the waist giving a perverted 'mmmmhhh' as it picked me up. It went running with me for a few seconds before a shot rang out and the thing fell with me, falling on top me, its head laying on my stomach, my already laboured breath became almost painful, I could no longer feel anything not even my own pain. 'Get her or the Captain'll be really mad!' I heard a rough voice say from the distance again I felt myself being picked up and again it was shot down. Man, who ever had the gun was on a roll today. Then I heard it, the man voiced what I feared. 'Do we really need her Captain after all we don't know her and her powers could be troublesome to us.' I heard Shanks almost roar at the man for even thinking of letting one of his 'Nakama' be taken away. I felt a tear slowly fall down my cheek as I fell into a slumber that was induced by a lack of oxygen. I think it was my brains way of saying good bye.

_The little girl stood there at parents evening waiting for her daddy to come. She was a whole seven and a half and she was very excited about seeing him again. Her mummy had already been and gone, leaving with a proud smile on her face, the little girls sister had said her first word so she was now in the background again, nothing compared to the child that her mummy had always wanted. She had heard her mummy talking to grandpa "I know that but its different after all she is mine and well Angel isn't is she. I never thought that having a child of my own would make me feel different." The little girl never did understand what she meant, 'not hers' she was baffled by it. So there she waited for hours and hours and hours until finally Mr Franklin told her it was time to go home and so the little girl walked home alone. 'Maybe he just forgot' she thought, but deep down inside she knew she was never going to see her daddy again and that made her sad._

"I don't understand everything seems to be fine but she won't wake up." A man was saying. I felt as though I was under water, his voice was muffled. I could feel people all around me, their energy connected together like siblings. Wait energy? What? I had never previously been able to do this, could it be that my powers are growing? No I was over reacting, just stay calm I told myself. Suddenly I sat up, scaring everyone that was there, though my eyes remained closed, only the waver in their energy told me of their turmoil.

"A-a-are you ok?" Asked the doctor. An interesting question. Was I ok? Surly I was yet I could not answer after all my memory had brought back old pains and my visions were starting to...kill me, does that count for ok, surly not. So instead I answered with a question:

"Did we win?"


	17. I'm going insane!

"Did we win?" I asked worriedly. The crew of men looked at me like I was insane before one of the men at the back shouted.

"Of course we won!" The other men joined in, cheering and generally making a lot of noise. Finally the pirate, whom I assumed was the doctor, ushered the other men out, claiming that I needed my rest. He was right I did. I was mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted. It had never occurred to me before that having visions may be the cause of an early death. People did not go around flaunting their visions, nor was there a vision society (that I knew of) therefore it was difficult to decide my lifespan. Would I slowly die, painfully, unable to move due to my vision? Or would it be quick and painless? Perhaps I would slip away in the middle of a vision, unable to feel my own death. Would I foretell it before it happened or would it be the only thing in my life that was a surprise? All these questions filled my mind with uncertainty and fear. There were two things I was now absolutely certain of, one, I was no longer in my own cosy little world and two, these men whom had become my friends were in fact pirates. As I accepted these two facts I felt my mind ease just a little, however somewhere in the recesses of my mind something terrible was happening. I did not know what it was and I did not know what it was doing but I could feel that it was about to drastically change my life, for better or for worse. With these thoughts I lay my head to rest and slept soundly on the soft hospital bed.

I could see the sunlight streaming in through my closed eyelids. The feel of it was almost relaxing. Almost but not quite. My body had taken quite a beating in the fight, I was only now realising it, it must have been dulled before due to the painkillers the doctor had given me while I was unconscious. The pain was centred around my torso, more precisely, my ribs, two of them I think but it was hard to tell. Finally, after deciding that my one person pity party was not as fun as I originally thought it would be, I got up and decided to walk around the ship for a while. Carefully opening the infirmary door and peeping out, like a naughty child sneaking down stairs at Christmas, I snuck into the hall. I presumed it was the hall below the deck. It was dark in the hall due to the lack of windows. There were a lot of doors, I assumed that they lead to sleeping quarters but I was not sure. Some of the doors were open while others were closed. I tiptoed closer to the stairs, hoping not to get caught by the doctor, I knew that he would tell me off for walking around with an injury but I was lonely all by myself and surely the only cure for an injury is company, or was it time… I could not quite remember. I nearly screamed when my foot pressed down on a squeaky floor board but managed to keep my cool. I felt like I was a secret agent, spying on the group of strangely laid back pirates. I finally made it to the deck. The wind felt great whipping through my long hair, pulling its fingers through the tangles left from bed rest. I walked to the front of the ship and looked out into the vast ocean. There was nothing but a desert of water, vast, open and extensive in every direction. Dolphins were following us, jumping into the air and falling beneath the waves again.

"What are you doing?" A familiar voice asked me. I nearly fell off the ship in fright.

"Mihawk?" I asked but when I turned around no one was there. I sighed and turned back to the sea, suddenly feeling a lot worse than before, my good mood quashed. It was odd how a man I had barely known could control my emotions. I felt like a puppet on strings when it came to him. There was not a day that I had not thought of him, dreamt of him or simply wished to hear his voice. What was wrong with me? Deciding that I had officially gone mad, I went off to find something more interesting to do. I dragged my feet to the other side of the deck, feeling the need to find some company.

"What are you doing?" A voice said from behind me. I jumped in fright.

"Déjà vu." I muttered to myself, loud enough for my fictional Mihawk to hear.

"I thought you were supposed to be resting?" It said. I did not turn around, not wanting to give my brain the satisfaction of believing that it was turning me into a mad woman.

"Stress." I thought out loud.

"What are you talking about?" It said again. This time it gripped me by the arm.

"Definitely stress." I mumbled again. Still unwilling to look at my fictional Mihawk.

"Maybe she's delusional." Came a helpful comment from what I gathered to be a fictional Shanks.

"Oh not you too." I murmured. "Just what I need, why not bring the entire crew, that's sure to unhinge me." Fictional Shanks seemed to find this hilarious. Though I suspected that my brain had conjured up a mildly inebriated Shanks in the hopes that it might be more realistic.

"Should I get kisho to check her out?" Asked fictional Benn.

"Just what I need, fictional Benn, fictional Kisho, fictional Shanks and fictional Mihawk." I mumbled bitterly, trying to carry on walking to the other side of the ship in the hopes that I could find some real people to converse with or else a real sea creature would do.

"Maybe he gave her too many painkillers." Fictional Shanks added unhelpfully.

"I wish." I mumbled back before I slapped my free hand over my mouth in shock. "Don't talk to them!" I berated myself. "Oh now I'm talking to myself."I laughed causing fictional Shanks to take a step away. "First sign of madness… or was it hairs on the back of your hand…" I carried on mumbling to myself. Fictional Benn told the other two fictional pirates that he was going to get 'Kisho', the doctor, to take a look at me.

"I'm going insane." I told the two fictional pirates, as though they could actually converse with me. "This is it isn't it. I'm going to be walking around like Al-." I paused. Who was I trying to think of? It was a name of someone. It was normally associated with these things. "Alex? No. Anne? No. Amy? No. Abbey? Definitely not. Alyson? It sounds right. I'm going to be walking around like Alyson in wonderland." I told them before pausing to contemplate what I had just said. "It still sounds wrong." I told them conversationally. The two fictional pirates had remained silent throughout my argument with myself, the only reason I knew that they were still there was through the grip that the fictional Mihawk had on my arm.

"What's the problem Cap'n?" Asked fictional Kisho. It sounded as though he had been running. I started laughing at this. Can a fictional pirate run? I presumed so seen as he obviously had been running. I could hear whispering and then some 'Umm's' and 'ahh's' I presumed that he was relaying the fact that I would not be taken in by this fake conversation.

"Land ho!" I heard someone shout. That was preposterous though, the last time I had checked there was not any land to be seen for miles. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Funny." I mumbled to myself. "I could have sworn fictional Mihawk was holding my arm a minute ago."

"What are you talking about?" A hazy voice said to me. I whipped my head around but I could not see anyone. "Angel?" Nothing. Was it not worrying to hear voices from nowhere in particular, more so than hearing voices from fictional people? "Oi, Lass?" The voice of Kisho asked again. It did not have its usual humour or stutter. I could feel warm wind on my face, almost like breath but still I could see nothing. Then suddenly almost out of nowhere Kisho appeared.

"What the hell?!" I suddenly screamed. I jumped backwards into someone's chest toned chest, I assumed that it was Mihawk. There was a grip on my arm once more. I felt strangely secure with it holding onto me. It felt much different than before when it was no longer there. "What's going on?" I asked Kisho, looking around frantically to see if I could somehow get to grips on my surroundings.

"You tell me." Kisho said, looking slightly startled by my sudden reaction. It was the first time I had seen him outside the infirmary. He was no longer stuttering, now he was serious, his smile was gone and his signature lab coat (though I had only seen him once) was not present. His face was now covered with a worried expression that I knew did not belong there.

"Erm…" What could I say. 'Oh Kisho, I'm insane, I've just conjured up several fictional crew members and Mihawk and then a man that shouted that there's an island, other than that everythings fine. How about you?' Instead I settled on. "I think I'm going insane." Kisho appeared to have no answer to this. He just stared at me. I supposed I should elaborate. "I just heard Mihawk say 'What are you doing?' and when I turned around no one was there and then it happened again so I decided not to turn around but then he wouldn't go away and then a fictional Mr Shanks appeared and then a fictional Benn and then some guy shouted 'Land ho!' but last time I checked we were nowhere close to land and then I heard your voice in the middle of nowhere for ages and then bam you were right in front of me." I took a huge breath after my long speech. Kisho seemed somewhat relived and slightly amused by my quick summary. I on the other hand was not. I forgot that taking big breaths could hurt broken ribs so much. "Ow! Ow! Stupid ribs!" I said to no one in particular. Kisho sighed before putting a hesitant hand on my shoulder. He waited to see how I reacted, I just blinked and looked at him, and then he guided me back to the infirmary. Mihawk and Shanks followed, I was now sure that they were real or as real as my imagination could make them, living, breathing and generally looking worried. When we finally arrived at the infirmary, Kisho sat me down and made some hot tea. I noticed that he did not bother offering Shanks any but made a point to ask both Mihawk and Benn, when he arrived a few minutes later. I felt like a volatile substance, treated with fear, respect and extreme caution, why, I did not know. I knew for a fact that if I chose to attack anyone currently in the infirmary I would end up being the one hurt. Still they watched me with caution as though any second I would self-destruct. I did not. I would not.

"Why don't you tell me about the vision you had three days ago? The one that knocked you out?" I stared at Kisho as though he had grown another head.

"Thr-thr- Three days ago?!" I shouted. Kisho looked slightly perplexed but he did not move nor did he flinch. The serious expression was back.

"Yes." He answered calmly. His face was still lacking his signature smile.

"Well…" I spoke after a few minutes of gathering my thoughts. I still could not believe it had been three days since the fight. "It was odd…" I admitted solemnly. "I saw two possible outcomes. Both of which involved me fighting beside everyone else. After I'd had the visions I realised I couldn't move. I was aware of everything that was going on-." Shanks looked away, he seemed slightly ashamed and I knew why, he now knew that I knew that one of his men had told him to leave me behind. To let the marines take me. I was not upset, it hurt a little at the time but now it was hardly worth bothering over. "I felt as though I was dying." I clutched the bed sheets that lay in disarray around me. "I couldn't breathe, I couldn't move and I couldn't speak at all." The pirates in the room looked worried. An emotion none of them should ever have had to feel.

"Has this happened before?" Kisho asked. I almost expected him to ask how I felt about that. I paused to contemplate his question. Had it happened before? If it had then I could not remember it. I shook my head, not completely trusting my voice, as I felt a lump come to my throat.

"Have you always had these visions?" He asked me. I looked up suddenly, my eyes wide. Had I always had them? I felt like I should say yes, however I did not know that to be a fact. Now that I thought about it I could not remember. Everything became hazy when I even tried to think about my childhood days.

"I-I…I don't remember!" I choked out.

"What do you remember? Can you tell us about your home? Your family?" My home? I was sure I had one and that it was very different from the red-haired pirate's ship. I was so sure that I would stake my life on it but I just could not remember. And my family? I wondered if I even had one. The crew called themselves a family, perhaps they were my family. I was sure that there had once been two people very close to me but right now I just could not remember. A part of my yearned to remember these people that I had forgotten but another small part, which was slowly growing with time, wanted nothing to do with them. That part of me was happy here, it wanted to remain on this pirate's ship for the rest of its days. A thought suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Who am I?"

* * *

_Sorry It's been so long since I last updates guys. I finally know how I'm going to end this and I'm hoping to end it soon. It took me forever to think of an actual story line to follow through. I am determined to finish this Fanfiction. As always please give me tips, tell me what you want to happen, what you don't want to happen, what I've done right and what I've done wrong. Please read and review. Constructive criticism is always the best. No flames either. I have the day off from Uni tomorrow so I'll try and write some more then.  
R&R_


	18. I can't remember!

I felt tears of frustration sting my eyes as I blinked them back.

"Calm down." Kisho said, a comforting hand now resting on my shoulder. "Breath! Just Breath." It was when he said this that I realised that I was holding my breath to stop the tears.

"I don't know who I am!" I shouted at him in fear and anger. "How can I possibly calm down?" Kisho grabbed my shoulders and pushed me down onto the bed. My eyes stared widely up at him and then swivelled to the first kind person I had met in this world. His golden eyes stared back at me, a calmness resonated there and flowed through me. "I can't remember anything before I met Mihawk."

"Ok." Kisho said calmly. "Now we know what you can remember let's attempt to remember something before then."

I sat in the infirmary for four hours trying desperately to remember something, anything from my past but I simply could not. The red haired pirates walked out of the infirmary looking perplexed. Mihawk did not leave the room, he stayed, waiting for the last pirate to close the door. As the door shut softly he stood up. He walked over to me and looked awkwardly down at me. Finally after shifting his feet uncomfortably for a while, waiting for me to speak, I suspected, he opened his arms up in a mechanical fashion and enveloped me in a very awkward hug.

"You already know who you are," He told me, his voice soothing as it rumbled through his chest. "You don't need a past to tell you who you are." He pulled away and stood up straight, he turned slightly to look at a tile on the other side of the room. "And if you forget who you are I can always tell you." He comically made a break for the exit and disappeared from view, leaving me alone. My night was spent having fast flicking visions almost constantly and by the first light of morning I was exhausted. During the night the lookout had announced that we were close to land, as he had in my vision and I was eager to leave the ship, if only so that I could be truly alone for a while.

When I felt well enough to stand up in the morning I made my way towards the main deck. The other pirates were still asleep and so I snuck away from the ship, eager to have my own space. The town we had landed at was a few houses short of a city. The high street snaked through the houses and pulled weary travellers into the very heart of the town, the bars. There was a circle of them, each competing with the other, offering things that were either untrue or just plain mad. 'Buy one get two free on alcoholic drinks', 'Free healthy meals', 'Free bed and breakfast'. I walked away from the bars once more and headed to a more isolated area.

The shops and houses gave way to trees and green grass, darkened by the shade of a nearby hill. My feet crunched as I walked through the trees. I stopped for a moment, resting slightly and as I did so I heard it. The crunching of feet and soft breathing. My body stiffened with fear. I felt my pockets, something I felt might have been a habit of mine in the other world. I wanted a communication device so that I could get help but there was none, my pockets were empty. My breathing sped up and I began walking quickly in the direction I was previously heading to. I knew that I needed to get back to the ship somehow but I was already lost in the labyrinth the trees had created. The fear was bubbling to an all time high and I could not help but begin to lose any helpful thought processes. My fight or flight response was arguing with itself, logic was clawing at me with blunt nails, telling me to turn around but my feet simply carried on, as though I no longer controlled them. My strides became longer, my breathing louder. The crunching behind me became more frequent and the breaths closer to me now. Suddenly the trees ended but, as abruptly as the trees had ended so hand the land. My body moved slowly forwards to look over the edge of the cliff face. Logic was mumbling angrily that I should have turned around before. The will in my feet was now gone and it left me feeling drained and scared. There was no sea below the cliff as there normally was, just large, angrily jagged rocks, which promised pain if I jumped down. The snapping of twigs behind me slowed down. I edged away from the sound into another entrance in the woods. I began to run hurriedly in any direction which offered more safety than my current one. I made it out of the forest and back into the town in less than ten minutes. I stopped, sighing with relief. The snapping of twigs stopped my excitement almost immediately. My body became routed to the spot. The sound slowly grew impossibly loud. Finally a small cat made its way out of the forest and hissed at me in annoyance as it made its way passed me. I laughed good naturedly, relieved to find that my paranoia was just that. However my happiness did not last long. I felt a knee hit me in my already sore ribs, as my body keeled over a foot smashed into my neck, knocking me out instantly.

**I'm trying to finish this now I'm off for a few months. I hope I can stay with the same style that I had before but I may not be able to so I'm sorry if I can't.**


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